Hey guys, I'm looking for some pointers for my sealed deck construction at my LGS. I had some pretty good pulls, but they're spread out over 5 colors and I could use some suggestions as to how to build a more viable deck. This is my first sealed experience, so I'm curious to see what kind of decks you guys would have made. The cards I pulled are as follows:
Lands
Jungle Hollow
Tomb of the Spirit Dragon
Opulent Palace
Blossoming Sands
Tranquil Cove
2x Scoured Barrens
Swiftwater Cliffs
Wind-Scarred Crag
Multi-Color
2x Abzan Guide
Secret Plans
Mardu Ascendancy
Sidisi, Brood Tyrant
Jeskai Ascendancy
Utter End
Mardu Charm
Chief of the Edge
Red
2x Hordeling Outburst
Valley Dasher
Tormenting Voice
War-Name Aspirant
Horde Ambusher
Mardu Warshrieker
Bring Low
Bloodfire Mentor
Shatter
Barrage of Boulders
Canyon Lurkers
White
Mardu Hateblade
Abzan Battle Priest
Mardu Hordechief
Ainok Bond-Kin
Jeskai Student
Alabaster Kirin
Smite the Monstrous
Erase
Sage-Eye Harrier
2x War Behemoth
Siegecraft
Blue
Treasure Cruise
Singing Bell Strike
Mystic of the Hidden Way
Dig Through Time
Embodiment of Spring
Mistfire Weaver
Quiet Contemplation
Force Away
Waterwhirl
Glacial Stalker
Weave Fate
2x Disdainful Stroke
Cancel
Wetland Sambar
Dragon's Eye Savants
Black
Sidisi's Pet
2x Shambling Attendants
Bellowing Saddlebrute
Dead Drop
Mer-Ek Nightblade
Murderous Cut
Throttle
Rakshasa's Secret
Unyielding Krumar
Molting Snakeskin
Krumar Bond-Kin
Green
Meandering Towershell
Roar of Challenge
Highland Game
Savage Punch
Sultai Flayer
Smoke Teller
Kin-Tree Warden
Tusked Colossodon
Feed the Clan
Naturalize
Archers' Parapet
Dragonscale Boon
Artifacts
2x Abzan Banner
Jeskai Banner
Mardu Banner
That's everything. I know there's some decent stuff here, but I had a lot of trouble narrowing it down. It didn't seem like there was a lot of wiggle room with the 40 card limit. Anyway, let me know what you guys think, thanks for the help!
Looking at your pool, black and white are probably the strongest color and your mana fixing lands are solid. A Mardu deck that splashes a bit of free green from the lands for the 2x Abzan guide might be worth a try here.
Manabase
W 4+6 sources for 9/4 white cards/morphs
B 4+3 sources for 6/3 black cards/morphs
R 1+3 sources for 3/0 red cards/morphs
G 3+0 sources for 1/2 green cards/morphs
Why would you cut Chief of the Edge though? I've seen warriors do work in draft, and there's a bunch of warriors in the list you posted, not to mention a 3/2 for 2 mana isn't too bad either. Just curious, thanks again!
Largely because of it's restrictive mana cost. I actually like it as a card a whole lot more than Jeskai Student, but it's a lot easier to produce 1W on T2 than BW.
Actually what thie deck really wants is to cut a 4-drop and run the Chief of the Edge just for curve purposes. But I couldn't work out what 4-drop to cut out of the Bellowing Saddlebrute and Unyielding Krumar. Probably one of them should be gone though. Maybe saddlebrute.
I would pretty much never keep Chief of the Edge out of a black-white deck unless one of those colors is a minor splash, especially if there are some warriors as there are in this deck. I do not think that it's crucial to cast it on turn 2. I do not like Jeskai Student much so I would probably cut that, and sideboard it in only if needed for early defense. This is just my view, though.
So these cards/this deck are for the stamp league at my LGS, and you get an extra card at random if you win a 2 out of 3 match with someone. Today I pulled a Sagu Mauler, and I definitely think he is worth moving some things around to work in. I also think I could benefit from blue for the additional card draw, singing bell strike as pseudo-removal. What do you guys think?
Additionally, that black 2 casting cost enchantment that gives -2-2 is very popular in our meta, and has been wrecking my morph creatures, so splashing blue and adding Secret Plans would protect them from it, which would be a huge lifesaver.
What I mean is, you can run morphs that are splashed off insufficient coloured mana sources, because even if you never draw your coloured mana, you still have a 2/2 for 3 mana. Compare Wooly Loxodon to Savage Punch. If you never draw a green source, you can still get some value from a morph, ideally trading with anothe rface down morph. Whereas the removal spell is compeltely blanked by you not drawing the right mana.
So I'd be much more open to 'splashing' morphs off of nonbasic fixing. But not things that require you to actually draw your coloured mana.
If your goal is to cast Secret Plans on turn 2, you need to distort your manabase so that you have about 7+ sources of both green and blue in your deck. That of course means taking out sources of other colours, which makes the early plays in those colours less reliable.
Also, neither two mana enchantment is really strong enough to justify being included in a 4-colour deck.
This is what I would build from your current list:
W 4+5 sources for 9/4 white cards/morphs
B 4+3 sources for 3/3 black cards/morphs
R 2+2 sources for 3/0 red cards/morphs
U 2+1 sources for 0/4 blue cards/morphs
G 3+0 sources for 0/1 green cards/morphs
Thanks again for the support. I actually got a few more cards and was wondering what your opinion was, since the actual tournament for the deck is tomorrow. I recently added these to my pool:
I thought it might be worth adding all of them but Embodiment of Spring and Dragonscale Boon, Blossoming Sands for more mana fixing, Seek the Horizon for the same reason/ thinning the deck, Bring Low for more removal, Snowhorn for another big guy. What do you think?
Snowhorn Rider is awesome, but the thing is, his three colours are all splash colours. I know I said that it's 'free' to run powerful off colour morphs, but he's just too unreliable, ultimately being worse than something like Krumar Bond-kin. The same logic applies to [/card]Embodiment of Spring[/card].
I wouldn't run Dragonscale Boon because we're not even running the first copy of it.
Seek the Horizons is pretty bad. You basically have to be 5 colour (which we are) and base green (which we are not). What if the colour we need to fix is green?
And lastly, Bring Low. This is definitely a card we want to consider, given that we are already running a copy of it. I'd add it, then cut a card. Looking over my most recent list, we have.... either Abzan Battle Priest or [cardKrumar Bond-Kin[/card]. I'd probably cut the 4-drop, since although it's powerful, it's quite slow and has no special synergy with the rest of your deck.
Manabase
W 4+6 sources for 9/4 white cards/morphs
B 4+3 sources for 6/3 black cards/morphs
R 1+3 sources for 3/0 red cards/morphs
G 3+0 sources for 1/2 green cards/morphs
Curve
1 c
2 ccs
3 cccccccs
4 ccccccssss
Just considering this version (not with the latter additions to the pool), is it worth cutting a land since the curve effectively ends at 4? Sure there's war behemoth, bond kin, and guide, but they are morphs. I could be completely wrong in suggesting this since I'm not super great at sealed, but that's why I ask.
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If MTG is a part of your life, the formats are like relationships:
Standard/Block = The on-again, off-again holiday fling
Modern/Vintage/Legacy = Stable, homely. A ***** after absence/misreading
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Commander/Cube = Agreeable, needy and expensive
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No, this deck still absolutely wants to get to 5 mana for the big morphs. I intentionally built it without 5-drops to give it a better curve (as it is, every creature in the deck can be played with 4 mana). There's nothing wrong with hardcasting the big morphs when you get to 6 mana as well.
Lands
Jungle Hollow
Tomb of the Spirit Dragon
Opulent Palace
Blossoming Sands
Tranquil Cove
2x Scoured Barrens
Swiftwater Cliffs
Wind-Scarred Crag
Multi-Color
2x Abzan Guide
Secret Plans
Mardu Ascendancy
Sidisi, Brood Tyrant
Jeskai Ascendancy
Utter End
Mardu Charm
Chief of the Edge
Red
2x Hordeling Outburst
Valley Dasher
Tormenting Voice
War-Name Aspirant
Horde Ambusher
Mardu Warshrieker
Bring Low
Bloodfire Mentor
Shatter
Barrage of Boulders
Canyon Lurkers
White
Mardu Hateblade
Abzan Battle Priest
Mardu Hordechief
Ainok Bond-Kin
Jeskai Student
Alabaster Kirin
Smite the Monstrous
Erase
Sage-Eye Harrier
2x War Behemoth
Siegecraft
Blue
Treasure Cruise
Singing Bell Strike
Mystic of the Hidden Way
Dig Through Time
Embodiment of Spring
Mistfire Weaver
Quiet Contemplation
Force Away
Waterwhirl
Glacial Stalker
Weave Fate
2x Disdainful Stroke
Cancel
Wetland Sambar
Dragon's Eye Savants
Black
Sidisi's Pet
2x Shambling Attendants
Bellowing Saddlebrute
Dead Drop
Mer-Ek Nightblade
Murderous Cut
Throttle
Rakshasa's Secret
Unyielding Krumar
Molting Snakeskin
Krumar Bond-Kin
Green
Meandering Towershell
Roar of Challenge
Highland Game
Savage Punch
Sultai Flayer
Smoke Teller
Kin-Tree Warden
Tusked Colossodon
Feed the Clan
Naturalize
Archers' Parapet
Dragonscale Boon
Artifacts
2x Abzan Banner
Jeskai Banner
Mardu Banner
That's everything. I know there's some decent stuff here, but I had a lot of trouble narrowing it down. It didn't seem like there was a lot of wiggle room with the 40 card limit. Anyway, let me know what you guys think, thanks for the help!
1 Jungle Hollow
1 Tomb of the Spirit Dragon
1 Opulent Palace
1 Blossoming Sands
1 Tranquil Cove
2 Scoured Barrens
1 Swiftwater Cliffs
1 Wind-Scarred Crag
Multi-Color
2 Abzan Guide
1 Secret Plans
1 Mardu Ascendancy
1 Sidisi, Brood Tyrant
1 Jeskai Ascendancy
1 Utter End
1 Mardu Charm
1 Chief of the Edge
Red
2 Hordeling Outburst
1 Valley Dasher
1 Tormenting Voice
1 War-Name Aspirant
1 Horde Ambusher
1 Mardu Warshrieker
1 Bring Low
1 Bloodfire Mentor
1 Shatter
1 Barrage of Boulders
1 Canyon Lurkers
1 Mardu Hateblade
1 Abzan Battle Priest
1 Mardu Hordechief
1 Ainok Bond-Kin
1 Jeskai Student
1 Alabaster Kirin
1 Smite the Monstrous
1 Erase
1 Sage-Eye Harrier
2 War Behemoth
1 Siegecraft
Blue
1 Treasure Cruise
1 Singing Bell Strike
1 Mystic of the Hidden Way
1 Dig Through Time
1 Embodiment of Spring
1 Mistfire Weaver
1 Quiet Contemplation
1 Force Away
1 Waterwhirl
1 Glacial Stalker
1 Weave Fate
2 Disdainful Stroke
1 Cancel
1 Wetland Sambar
1 Dragon's Eye Savants
1 Sidisi's Pet
2 Shambling Attendants
1 Bellowing Saddlebrute
1 Dead Drop
1 Mer-Ek Nightblade
1 Murderous Cut
1 Throttle
1 Rakshasa's Secret
1 Unyielding Krumar
1 Molting Snakeskin
1 Krumar Bond-Kin
Green
1 Meandering Towershell
1 Roar of Challenge
1 Highland Game
1 Savage Punch
1 Sultai Flayer
1 Smoke Teller
1 Kin-Tree Warden
1 Tusked Colossodon
1 Feed the Clan
1 Naturalize
1 Archers' Parapet
1 Dragonscale Boon
Artifacts
2 Abzan Banner
1 Jeskai Banner
1 Mardu Banner
1 Jeskai Student
1 Ainok Bond-Kin
1 Mardu Hordechief
2 Abzan Guide
1 Krumar Bond-Kin
2 War Behemoth
1 Alabaster Kirin
1 Mardu Warshrieker
1 Bellowing Saddlebrute
1 Abzan Battle Priest
1 Mer-Ek Nightblade
1 Unyielding Krumar
1 Mardu Charm
1 Smite the Monstrous
1 Utter End
1 Bring Low
1 Murderous Cut
2 Scoured Barrens
1 Wind-Scarred Crag
1 Jungle Hollow
1 Opulent Palace
1 Blossoming Sands
6 Plains
3 Swamp
3 Mountain
Manabase
W 4+6 sources for 9/4 white cards/morphs
B 4+3 sources for 6/3 black cards/morphs
R 1+3 sources for 3/0 red cards/morphs
G 3+0 sources for 1/2 green cards/morphs
Curve
1 c
2 ccs
3 cccccccs
4 ccccccssss
Why would you cut Chief of the Edge though? I've seen warriors do work in draft, and there's a bunch of warriors in the list you posted, not to mention a 3/2 for 2 mana isn't too bad either. Just curious, thanks again!
Actually what thie deck really wants is to cut a 4-drop and run the Chief of the Edge just for curve purposes. But I couldn't work out what 4-drop to cut out of the Bellowing Saddlebrute and Unyielding Krumar. Probably one of them should be gone though. Maybe saddlebrute.
Hmm, also in the deck list above I'm not really utilizing any kind of bombs, but maybe I was overestimating the value of most of the rares I pulled?
And with hindsight I would have cut the Warshrieker for the Chieftain.
Additionally, that black 2 casting cost enchantment that gives -2-2 is very popular in our meta, and has been wrecking my morph creatures, so splashing blue and adding Secret Plans would protect them from it, which would be a huge lifesaver.
I'm much more leery on the blue spells you cite. Morphs are free. Given the list I posted above, I'd make the following changes:
1 Swiftwater Cliffs
1 Island
1 Chief of the Edge
1 Sagu Mauler
1 Mystic of the Hidden Way
1 Mistfire Weaver
1 Glacial Stalker
2 Swamp
1 Jeskai Student
1 Savage Punch
1 Unyielding Krumar
1 Bellowing Saddlebrute
1 Mer-Ek Nightblade
So I'd be much more open to 'splashing' morphs off of nonbasic fixing. But not things that require you to actually draw your coloured mana.
If your goal is to cast Secret Plans on turn 2, you need to distort your manabase so that you have about 7+ sources of both green and blue in your deck. That of course means taking out sources of other colours, which makes the early plays in those colours less reliable.
Also, neither two mana enchantment is really strong enough to justify being included in a 4-colour deck.
This is what I would build from your current list:
1 Chief of the Edge
1 Ainok Bond-Kin
1 Mardu Hordechief
2 Abzan Guide
1 Krumar Bond-Kin
1 Sagu Mauler
1 Mystic of the Hidden Way
1 Mistfire Weaver
1 Glacial Stalker
2 War Behemoth
1 Alabaster Kirin
1 Mardu Warshrieker
1 Abzan Battle Priest
1 Smite the Monstrous
1 Utter End
1 Bring Low
1 Murderous Cut
2 Scoured Barrens
1 Wind-Scarred Crag
1 Jungle Hollow
1 Opulent Palace
1 Blossoming Sands
1 Swiftwater Cliffs
5 Plains
3 Swamp
2 Mountain
1 Island
W 4+5 sources for 9/4 white cards/morphs
B 4+3 sources for 3/3 black cards/morphs
R 2+2 sources for 3/0 red cards/morphs
U 2+1 sources for 0/4 blue cards/morphs
G 3+0 sources for 0/1 green cards/morphs
1 Blossoming Sands
1 Seek the Horizon
1 Embodiment of Spring
1 Snowhorn Rider
1 more Dragonscale Boon
1 more Bring Low
I thought it might be worth adding all of them but Embodiment of Spring and Dragonscale Boon, Blossoming Sands for more mana fixing, Seek the Horizon for the same reason/ thinning the deck, Bring Low for more removal, Snowhorn for another big guy. What do you think?
Snowhorn Rider is awesome, but the thing is, his three colours are all splash colours. I know I said that it's 'free' to run powerful off colour morphs, but he's just too unreliable, ultimately being worse than something like Krumar Bond-kin. The same logic applies to [/card]Embodiment of Spring[/card].
I wouldn't run Dragonscale Boon because we're not even running the first copy of it.
Seek the Horizons is pretty bad. You basically have to be 5 colour (which we are) and base green (which we are not). What if the colour we need to fix is green?
And lastly, Bring Low. This is definitely a card we want to consider, given that we are already running a copy of it. I'd add it, then cut a card. Looking over my most recent list, we have.... either Abzan Battle Priest or [cardKrumar Bond-Kin[/card]. I'd probably cut the 4-drop, since although it's powerful, it's quite slow and has no special synergy with the rest of your deck.
Just considering this version (not with the latter additions to the pool), is it worth cutting a land since the curve effectively ends at 4? Sure there's war behemoth, bond kin, and guide, but they are morphs. I could be completely wrong in suggesting this since I'm not super great at sealed, but that's why I ask.
Standard/Block = The on-again, off-again holiday fling
Modern/Vintage/Legacy = Stable, homely. A ***** after absence/misreading
Limited/Sealed = Heart breaking free spirit
Commander/Cube = Agreeable, needy and expensive
Pauper/Peasant = Sweet, kind, practical, but shy and boring